


Coffee

by Morpheus626



Category: The Pacific (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:28:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25060873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morpheus626/pseuds/Morpheus626
Summary: A request from @xmxisxforxmaybe on Tumblr for: "Um, you know I’m slidin’ into your asks for one of these! I pick, “How many cups of coffee have you had?!”"Marked with Major Character Death because it does reference the loss of Ack Ack in some detail.
Relationships: Merriell "Snafu" Shelton/Eugene Sledge
Kudos: 5





	Coffee

He felt like he didn’t need to ask the question, looking at the empty cupboard where their coffee was usually kept. But he was going to anyway. 

“How many cups of coffee have you had?!” he sighed, picking up Eugene’s discarded drafts from around the desk he was sat at, in the corner of the living room. 

Eugene’s hands shook as he set down his pen. “That’s not really important.” 

Snafu leaned forward and looked at his pupils. “Jesus. Look, it’s four in the morning. Time for bed, if you can sleep.” 

“Nah, I gotta finish this. I’ve almost got it perfect, I know it,” Eugene protested, turning back to the paper on the desk. 

“You’ve been writin’ for the entirety of the day. Don’t think you’ve noticed, but I left you lunch and dinner, and you didn’t touch either of ‘em. That’s a problem. And havin’ nothing to drink but coffee ain’t helpin’. You gotta take a break. It’ll be there tomorrow, I promise.” 

“I’m writing about…Ack Ack,” Eugene said awkwardly. “I…I don’t know if I can finish this part if I don’t get it down now. I’ve been tryin’ to all day, but I just…” 

Suddenly it all made sense. The extra-frustrated sighs, the intense focus, and the feeling that each time he’d checked on Eugene he was always on the edge of tears. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” 

“S’okay. I could’ve just said what I was workin’ on,” Eugene sighed. “I’m at his…” 

Snafu nodded. Neither of them had discussed it much, since getting home. And it had been nearly two years now. But the wound of that particular loss was still open wide, viscera glistening and bleeding in such a way it seemed it might never stop. 

“I feel like there’s no way to write it…right, if that makes sense,” Eugene said, holding up his current piece of paper. “Would you read it, let me know what you think?” 

Snafu took the page and settled onto the floor near Eugene’s chair. It was difficult to read, but that was a good thing. Eugene had remembered it all so clearly, and could write the memory so pristine that he could smell it again, the blood and rot and the general filth that had covered them all when they’d been told of Ack Ack’s death. Could recall how most of them had cried enough that then they couldn’t barely smell anything, so sore and swollen were their sinuses, their eyes hurting from tears continually rubbed away. It was horribly real, even though he knew he was safe in their home, he still half expected to see Ack Ack on the stretcher, being carried past them with the still bleeding bullet wound in his forehead. 

“Snaf,” Eugene murmured, and it shook him back to reality. “You’re cryin’.” 

“Cause you did a good job,” he replied shakily, reaching up to hand back the paper. “You got it, don’t think you can make it any better than it is.” 

The chair moved just slightly as Eugene stood, and Snafu moved so he wouldn’t fall back. Before he could stand, Eugene was beside him on the floor, holding his hands, tears running down his face too. 

“I just miss him so goddamn much. I never got to thank him for keepin’ us alive. Takin’ care of us as best he could,” Eugene’s hands were still shaking, but Snafu knew it wasn’t from the caffeine now. 

“I know,” he soothed, rubbing a thumb over the skin of Eugene’s hand. 

“I mean, it was a sniper. Do you think he even knew…he can’t have known…but what was he thinkin’ about. Was he thinkin’ about goin’ home, about gettin’ to sit with all of us that night after we dug in?” Eugene continued, sobbing now. “Why the hell didn’t I just thank him earlier; he could have at least died knowing how much we appreciated him.” 

“I think he knew,” Snafu said, moving to wrap an arm around Eugene. “Must’ve, or he wouldn’t have kept takin’ such good care of us. Would’ve got sick of listenin’ to all of us belly ache and complain.” 

“Maybe. Think he would’ve been good to us no matter what though,” Eugene replied. “Think he was just that good of a man.” 

“I think you’re probably right,” Snafu sighed. “But damn if that doesn’t make it hurt even more.” 

Eugene nodded as sobs wracked his body again, and Snafu could do nothing more to comfort him than to hold him close. 

He half-wished there was more coffee left in the house, because he figured he wouldn’t sleep now either, with the image of Ack Ack, dead, stuck in front of his eyes again. He didn’t blame Eugene, if anything he was the courageous one managing to write out the painful memory as well as he had. But it just hurt so damn bad, so harshly that it made him want to rip out his hair or smack his head against the wall until the physical pain distracted from the emotional. 

Instead, he let Eugene slip down until he was laying in his lap, his tears wetting the fabric of Snafu’s pants as he wept. He let one hand rest softly on Eugene’s shoulder, the other playing a bit with his hair, the sensation of it slipping between his fingers keeping him tethered to the moment, making him aware that they were in their house in Mobile, not in a filthy foxhole on Bloody Nose Ridge. 

He’d buy more coffee the next morning, in preparation for Eugene’s next marathon writing session. If it was about anything even near as painful as the loss of Ack Ack, then they’d both need it.


End file.
